The Westminster WiredCats are a robotics team, competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition. We are students at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia in grades 9 through 12.

WHAT IS FIRST?
FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is an organization devoted to spreading STEM to students K-12 through new and interesting ways. Every year, the organization
offers new and unique challenges, which students are supposed to build a robot to compete in; there are different difficulties for different grade levels, such as FIRST Lego League (FLL, for grades K-8)
and to FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC, for grades 9-12), which Team 2415 participates in!

Modules

In an effort to increase our team’s overall sustainablity, the WiredCats created interactive training modules to improve the expertise of our new and returning team members in safety training as well as those areas of the build process we deemed essential to a successful FRC season.

This module covers the basics of machines and hand tools you may come across in your workshop, including some safety and measurement tips. We recommend using this module as a pre-requisite for all members before they split into their module topics. This way, every member of your team has a base knowledge of your work space.

This module will guide incoming members through a 8 week design process, discuss good techniques for brainstorming and give students examples of what the FIRST game usually looks like. Through design missions, your team members will put this process to good use and create their own interactive designs. Students will also learn the basics of CAD systems.

This module will help your students create a sustainable, far-reaching team of their own. They will learn how to handle media, sponsors, and team image, figure out the logistics of event planning and balancing a budget, brainstorm events and initiatives, discuss their team’s submissions, and determine just what needs to be done at competition. The awards covered in this module include: Chairman’s, Engineering Inspiration, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship, Media and Technology, Gracious Professionalism, Judges Award, and writing essays for both Dean’s List (in certain cases) and Woodie Flowers.

In this course, your students will learn the physics concepts behind the power of your robot before plunging into electronics basics like soldering and crimping. All of this will lead up to your students wiring their own FIRST control board, which will include information on each component of this system, and mounting the system on the robot. In the Coding Module, our program that teaches Java. This module instructs students on the basics of how to program using the FIRST API. Students will get direct experience with working on and programming the robot.

Outreach

Scout Day

Firstcast

Internship Linking Service

Past Outreach

FIRST Resources

The robotics team will be inviting Girl Scouts from around Atlanta to learn about STEM. They will earn engineering badges and learn about many processes in Robotics.

EPISODE ONE This year, The WiredCats created FIRSTcast, a podcast series currently hosted on SoundCloud. With these podcasts, Team 2415 aims to share advice and information helpful to both rookie and veteran FRC teams. Each episode in the series has a unique topic ranging from team communication to surviving competitions. The series is beneficial to STEM enthusiasts outside the immediate FRC community as well, because many of the episodes contain guidance applicable to real-world situations.
The WiredCats’ debut episode discusses the topic of team communication – specifically, communicating through a messaging service called Slack. This website-app combo eases the hassle that tends to come with sending team-wide messages. It allows the user to create multiple organized conversations tailored to various modules. In the episode, The WiredCats discuss the pros and cons of this convenient networking site. Additionally, several other teams were invited onto the show to discuss their own teams’ experiences with Slack.

Internship Linking Service, or ILS, is a program developed to let FIRST Robotics Teams in the greater Atlanta area access unique opportunities to experience careers in engineering in the form of paid summer internships. High school students are required to provide basic information to interested businesses using our website, and communication between student and sponsor will continue from there without involvement from the WiredCats. The program is run with the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), who helps to match students up with prospective companies.

These internships are all project-based so there will be lots of learning and great opportunities involved that will be beneficial for your futures in the technology world. We encourage you to take a few minutes to fill out the application (linked above) with thorough answers that will help TAG Education get to know you so as to better place you in an internship.
The program began at GRITS (GeorgiaFIRST Robotics Invitational Tournament and Showcase), in 2010, and in the summer of 2011, 60 students participated in the program. The program expanded to include spots for 100 students in 2012, and this number will continue to increase in future seasons. The WiredCats able to track the number of internship positions filled through a tracker, but there is no interference from the team.

Since our teams inception, the WiredCats have spread their influence in our school and in our community. First, we extended our reach to the different parties at our school, seeking to expand technology on campus and environmental sustainability. In the past, we have provided many outreach opportunities including Project Light Feet, the Green Alliance, and Skype mentoring services. We also manage Westminster’s involvement in the Green Cup Challenge, an annual inter-school competition to reduce energy consumption. Since 2008, this initiative has grown from 2 schools to over 200 because of our efforts. Last year’s energy competition helped save over 1 million kilowatt-hours of energy. The WiredCats have also coordinated battery, plastic, glass, aluminum, ink jet, cell phone, and paper recycling on campus. Such outreach activities encourage other FIRST teams in our area and around the world to follow our example.

We have created a number of guides and interactive documents for your benefit, some of which can be downloaded below. As a highly competitive, very successful team, we wish to share our guides with all of you.
Entrepreneurship Made Easy is a simple, ten-step guide to creating a well-constructed business plan and executive summary.
Freshmen 15 is a guide for FRC rookies (members, not necessarily teams) as well as a reminder for returning members.
Business Plan Guidelines is a basic guide which will help any team build or renovate a business plan in order to improve your business skills. It includes samples from Team 2415’s Business Plan (2013) and tips on the new Executive Summary for the KPC&B Entrepreneurship Award.
FLL Made Easy is a video that goes over the basics for FLL teams to be successful in competition.

Our Team

Leads

For each module, leaders who are especially skilled in their fields teach others in their modules through training sessions and meetings

Ben
Barber

Co-Project Manager

I've been on the team since my Freshman year, working initially with code and strategy/scouting, and now with project management as well. I'm a jack of all trades, trying to get into all the different parts of robotics. When I'm not doing robotics or schoolwork (as rare as those times may be) I'm a big fan of baking.

Katie Schumacher

Co-Project Manager

Hello! I'm Katie and I'm a junior this year. On the team I'm one of the project managers, I work in fabrication on the router and at competitions I'm highly involved in scouting. On the rare occasions I'm not at robotics I enjoy working on the sound board for musicals, or playing in the snow!

Grace Nichols

VP of Business

I teach the business module and head the outreach and PR committees. This is my third year on the team and last year I was the documentation lead.

Kyle Desnoyer

VP of Operations

My name is Kyle Desnoyer and my favorite things are puppies, long walks on the beach, and engineering. I mainly use the mill and lathe during den times as well as other small machines to manufacture parts for our robot. I have been apart of the team since freshman year and have been on a robotics team since the 6th grade.

Bri Zimmerman

Systems Director

I'm Bri Zimmerman and I'm the Director of Systems this year (pneumatics and electronics combined). My interests on the team go beyond Systems though, as I am also a member of the Design team and I work on the CNC Router. While I spend most of my time in the Robotics Den, I am also a mentor for both Middle and Elementary School Robotics and I absolutely love sharing their passion for STEM!

Omari Matthews

Marketing Guy

Lara Kassabian

Electronics Module Leader

I am the electronics module leader on team 2415! I love being with my friends and building robots, and eating food, and playing video games. I enjoy teaching people about electronics and seeing them learn!

Bill Huang

Engineering VP

I am the Engineering VP this year, and I oversee all the CAD and design of the team and coordinate with fab, code, pneumatics and electronics to put together a complete robot. I'm a senior whose been on this team since frosh year, and I enjoy doing art stuff, anime, and gaming in addition to robotz.

Kimani Selby

Fabrication Module Leader

Hi, how are you? I’m Kimani Selby. I serve FRC team 2415 as a Fabrication Module leader. I’m responsible for making sure our team members are able to utilize all the machines we have in the den. Creating proficiency in machinery and fabricating is perfect for continuing our trend of building an efficient and strong robot ready for competition. I’m very excited for our upcoming 2017 season of FIRST Robotics!

Emma Hardymon

VP of Finance

Hello world! I’m the VP of Finance and Administration, which means that - spoiler alert - I manage most of the team’s financial and administrative responsibilities. Shocking. I know. I am the main line of communication between the business and build side of the team and also manage all external communication via social media and newsletters for parents and team sponsors.

Isabel Evans

Director of Outreach

Hey I’m Isabel Evans! I’m a sophomore and the business team’s Director of Outreach! I’m mainly in charge of the outreach events we do on our team, but I also work with our sponsors, write for Chairmans and KPCB, and more. I’m super passionate about teaching the next generation of 2415 members and making connections with others in the STEM world.